Farming for Nitrogen: Intercropping Corn and Kura Clover

  Farming for Nitrogen: Intercropping Corn and Kura Clover by Ken Albrecht1, Tyson Ochsner2, and Bob Berkevich1 Summary Corn grown in suppressed kura clover requires little or no nitrogen fertilizer, an input cost that is expected to remain high in the foreseeable future. Permanent groundcover in this intercropping system would be expected to minimize soil loss […]

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Making Quality Silage Bales

Making Quality Silage Bales by Jerry Clark Introduction Humid conditions during the summer in the upper Midwest can make it difficult to harvest good, quality, dry hay. Many dairy producers have turned to large bale silage as a method of harvesting their hay crop either as their main storage option or to store surplus hay. Putting […]

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Shrink is a Deceptive Term

Shrink is a Deceptive Term Brian Holmes, Professor Emeritus, UW-Madison The term shrink is used widely in the feed industry. It frequently is used to refer to the loss of feed during harvest, handling, and storage. Since it refers to the weight before and after a process, the moisture content and moisture content change can […]

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Estimating the Weight of Forage in a Forage Wagon

Estimating the Weight of Forage in a Forage Wagon by Daniel W. Wiersma and Brian J Holmes Introduction Most dairy farmers do not have a drive-over scale available on their farms. Frequently it would be useful to know the weight of forage harvested from a field. Measuring alfalfa or corn silage yield is necessary to adjust […]

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Making Sure Your Kernel Processor Is Doing Its Job

    Making Sure Your Kernel Processor Is Doing Its Job by Kevin J. Shinners and Brian J. Holmes Introduction For cows to digest the starch in corn efficiently, the corn kernels in chopped and processed whole-plant corn must be broken into small particles. Three decades ago it was thought that effective starch utilization occurred if […]

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Update on Corn Shredlage for Dairy Cows

Update on Corn Shredlage for Dairy Cows by Lauryn Vanderwerff1, Luiz Ferraretto1, Gustavo Salvati1 and Randy Shaver1,2 1Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison 2University of Wisconsin-Extension Introduction There continues to be a lot of interest in corn silage harvested with a self-propelled forage harvester (SPFH) equipped with an aftermarket processor having cross-grooved processing rolls […]

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Using In Vitro Total-Tract NDF Digestibility in Forge Evaluation

Using In Vitro Total-Tract NDF Digestibility in Forage Evaluation by Dave Combs1 1Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison Introduction Fiber is an essential component of diets for dairy cattle.  In high producing dairy cows, about a quarter of the energy for milk production comes from digested fiber. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) is a laboratory […]

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